tomato bragging rights

Written on February 5, 2010 at 10:22 am , by Denny Schrock

People are passionate about their tomatoes. For some reason, growing tomatoes often turns into a contest. The urge to produce the first tomato in the neighborhood or the largest one at the local fair spurs gardeners to coax their tomato plants beyond their natural limits.

Whether you’re partial to giant beefsteak tomatoes, tiny cherry types, paste forms, heirlooms or the latest hybrids, your options abound if you’re willing to start your own plants from seed. Now is the time to order your seeds if you haven’t already done so. The typical time to start tomato seeds is about 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost date in your area.

If you’d like to push the envelope, though, you can start seeds much sooner. I harvested the first tomatoes of the year earlier this week even though we have 9 inches of snow on the ground here in central Iowa. A greenhouse certainly helps! The plants were started last October, and grew into sturdy vines before winter set in. They started blooming by Thanksgiving, but it’s taken two additional months for the fruits to mature. The greenhouse runs cold (often dipping below 40 degrees at night), so I placed the plants in a protected microclimate next to a south-facing wall that the greenhouse shares with my home. The combination of cold temperatures and short days extends the days to maturity, but these first fruits were worth the wait! I’m looking forward to additional harvests throughout the rest of winter and spring. By then, my spring-started crop may be ready to take up the slack.

What tips and techniques do you use to produce the perfect tomato and win your neighborhood tomato bragging rights?